am i the only one with a 55 hudson?

I bet you can't wait to hear someone tell you what a nice Dodge you have.

 

send me an email ( [email protected] ) with your address and I'll send you the "Twin-H Times" newsletter for the Hudson-Essex-Terraplane club N(Nor-Cal Chapter) first year of membership is FREE!

BTW we have a BIG meet coming up next year in San Mateo;

 

ok, so ive done a ton of work to this car over the last few weeks and probably put around $500 in it. here it is lowered with my other cars

 

did brakes all the way around, there was mud in the brake lines, rebuilt the carb, distributor, dropped the gas tank.. it was caked with rust 3 inches high, cleaned it and blew out all the fuel lines, fabricated adapters for windshield wipers, ditched the road draft tube, added fuses everywhere, replaced the headlight switch and a socket and got all the lights workin. cut the springs in the rear (took 3 loops out) and it sits flat now. still trying to figure out what to do about the broken parking brake cable. trunk latch was bad, but i found its the same as a rambler, so i got an NOS one. this car is just about ready to be my daily driver

 

okay so time has gone by. this car has no power at all. the car weighs 3700 pounds and has a 115 hp engine, and the hydramatic takes away 50hp from it... top speed up the highway out here is 35mph!! i put this 2 barrel pinto carb on there and drilled out all the jets to rfatten it up.. it has way more power, however, even with the choke working properley, its so cold blooded its a 15 minute project to get it running while it cold, yet its fine when it finally warms up. 180 thermostat. the transmission slips out of 4th gear and doesnt down shift untill right before the car's about to bog down and die.. does anyone know how to adjust the hydramatic?? its official.. a '55 buick 264 V8 is going in the hudson, with either a c-4 mustang transmission, or a studebaker 3 speed manual overdrive.... i cant decide.. a stick would give me more power and better gas mileage, however i will have to fabricate clutch linkage to make it work, as well as a custom bell housing adaptor and crossmember.. either way the rear end will have to be swapped out and with a 4-link suspension or leafs because of the enclosed drive shaft it has. if thats the case air bags would be cool. i really like the car, and its hard to resist cutting it into pieces and making a custom out of it.. seeing as how it's a 55 hudson, its already a custom, and i probably have one out of 12 that are even still left in the world. it needs to be converted to 12 volt, and it needs to be able to pull up the hills out here in grass valley. does anyone have an opinion they would like to share?

 

I don't think trying to stay trad really works on this car because their performance was so far behind others at the time that there wasn't a typical hop up scenario for them. I thought I'd never hear myself saying this but if it were to be my daily driver I'd do an SBC FI with 200R4 complete with AC, 12V, and Jag suspension front and back. Wouldn't cost that much either especially since you could also sell the other drive train parts to collectors..."ran when pulled". Spice it up with some nifty wheels, Diamond back radials, mild duals and new insulation, carpet and headliner. Then enjoy the higher performance, fuel economy, highway speeds, ride, handling, safety and convenience of a roomy 4 door to load the family in for trips without having to worry about parts. That car has so much "COOL" going on for it that I'd drive it all the time! Even love the colors and interior. A photo chop of 2" might be more than I could resist, though. Folks still wore dressy hats in those days.
Chuck

 

The 55 Wasp was really underpowered. Nash used the little 202 in one of their bodies. At 3700 lbs. plus the hydro and accesories, it was way under powered. That motor in a 2700 lbs Jet is a whiz. The Jet had about a 25 to 1 , wt/ hp ratio. I wish you were not so far away, I would like to have your engine. But that is the way is goes. Give the little 202 a good home. Hud

 

That's a very nice example of a very rare Hudson, as the marque was fading away. Me, I'd keep it stock, or just not change anything that can't be changed back to stock. Good score! And Dale really knows the score on specific Hudson models in '55-'57. Nice going', Dale!

 

What a rare beauty, hope you don't do the spot lights, it doesn't need any more bling. Really looks sweet low down, and the white walls would really set if off but are expensive for sure, enjoy this dandy, it will be a hit whever you go. Congrats.. ~sololobo~

 

The Buick might bolt up to the Hydro. If not, an Olds or Pontiac (or Caddy) V8 would. The Pontiac would be cheapest to build, if you ran a 59-60 389 block and used a factory adapter to the trans.

Another option would be a Nash 327 V8, if you can round one up it would be cheap, they ran a torque tube up to '68 and used a Borg-Warner built clone of the late 50s Ford auto trans for some of those years.

 

thanks for the comments guys! the 264 nailhead would bolt to the hydramatic with a simple adaptor, however the hydramatic slips out of 4th gear and doesnt downshift properly. we specialize in the buick nailhead engines and i already have a 264 (that was only made in 54 and 55) that just needs to be taken apart, tanked, and looked over. i have a freshly rebuilt C4 left over from my moms mustang already as well. and i think i can re-use the shift linkeage to keep the column shift functional.. i just need to buy a torque converter for it and buy the $300 adaptor.. i found a 10 bolt gm rearend behind the shop thats the exact same width, so i can ditch the torque tube.. now i just have to come up with a 4-link setup or leafsprings for it..

 

i have a 55 i just bought for the 308/hydromatic. it has the cont kit on back. cool looking car. i just got mine in storage a couple of weeks ago. it has been setting out since i traded for it. i will prob sell or trade mine after i get the 308 out, but these really are neat looking cars in their own right.

 

good find! how much did you pay for it?

 

Paste some Hudson stickers on the Buick valve covers..... who will know the difference these days? LOL

 

I owned a very nice '56 Super Wasp that I bought in 2001 in North Dakota, and sold to a guy in California in the Fall of 2002. Very nice and comfortable car. I had the 202 c.i. Jet flathead Six that was in the '53-'54 Hudson Jets. Ran sooooo smoooooth!

 

i paid $1500 for it and ive got around $1000 in it so far, doing everything myself

 

I got a 55' wasp to and I love the car, I saw that u were lookin for ebrake cables? did u ever figure them out cuz im looking for them as well.. your car looks awesome makes me wanna work on mine more.

 

yeah i did find an NOS cable. just took a while. moving right along with the car. put spot lights on it last week. working on building the nailhead engine right now. the main bearings wound up being wrong.. waiting for another set in the mail. gonna pick up the trailoring for the rear this weekend to ditch the torque tube with the C4 transmission

 

When I was in USAF in Minot, ND, I dated a gal that had an excellent 1957 Nash Ambassador 4dr sedan - 327 V8, 3spd/ODrive, set of dual exhaust that was just sweet. What a great road car - I had a 58 Vette at the time, but we took that big old Ambassador almost everywhere. I miss her and both cars sometimes.

 

Agree, join the HET

 

havnt posted any updates in a while. ive just been driving the hell out of this car.. engine and transmission are ready to go. i just found some 35 ford split bones that should work in order to get rid of the torque tupe

 

got all the mounts made for the '55 buick nailhead and C4 tranny.. the rest of the crossmembers are important to keep because its a unibody. shot the white tonight.. the pass side exhaust manifold had to be notched and i had to notch the steering box in where the upper control arms mount in the pass side of the engine compartment. the steering column i tilted down because of clearance issues with the block.. i still had to grind the mounting area for original clutch linkage off the block and part of the pitman arm stopper on the steering box itself for clearance. it works out, because you couldnt see over the steering wheel before, you had to look through the wheel, it sucked. the engine is offset to the pass side exactly an inch.. i will have more pictures soon.. stiff have to figure out the rear suspension

 

here's the finished deal. i ran into some issues with the transmission adapter not being made right. the converter pulled out too far when mounting to the pressure plate and broke the stater shaft. the most difficult part of the build for me was making the exhaust fit on the car. both sides come to the passanger side and come up and over the oil filter housing and idler arm. the car has plenty of power for a lil' 264. i put literally 20 miles on it and hopped in it and took it to santa cruz (about a 5 hour drive each way.) the only issue i had was with the factory experimental intake for the AFB/edelbrock.. too much heat getting up through the heat riser caused the gas to boil when i got stuck in traffic

 

Man, that's nice!